Hometown Potpourri: a memoir - growing up in a "special place at a special time" - Softcover

Battistini, Maryanne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1418429597 ISBN 13: 9781418429591

Publisher: AuthorHouse, 2004

Synopsis

Growing up in a small Midwesterntown in Indiana during the aftermath of the 1929 Wallstreetmarket crash, pre-World War II, and facing teenage in a fatherless home duringthe war years, the author has described her childhood in an era of the past. As a young girl, Ms. Battistini describes how family tragedies affected familylife and the contrasts of living through sadness in a child's world. Facing a world of two parent,stay-at-home-mother families, as the youngest child after the death of herbeloved father, she takes us through the frightened world of an original"latchkey kid." Social mores at the timewas one that pushed mental and emotional problems of children into a "socialdumpster".......meaning they were not recognized, nor dealt with. The old Victorian adage of "children shouldbe seen and not heard," had permeated into the early twentieth century . Sheliterally walks us through the childhood contacts that left their marks on hersocial development. The reader cannothelp but make comparisons to children of single parent homes of today, and thesocial aids that are available to them. She subtly refers to the stigma of ahusbandless family, and gender inequality. She describes family life before herfather's death, and the importance of family gatherings.Growing into teenage sociabilityduring World War II, Ms. Battistini touches upon theeffects of the war years on her family as well as the community. She demonstrates how as a youth she pursuedher education through the parochial school system finishing in the publicschools of Sarah Scott Junior High and Wiley High Schools. The impact of high school friends is defined andhas been lifelong.As a forty-four year old graduatestudent taking an aptitude test, the author found her forte could have been inmechanical engineering. As a youngcollege student, she and her peers found the career options mainly to be inteaching, nursing, secretarial work, and/or marriage. Ms. Battistinispent forty-seven years in the field of

About this title

About the Author:

After having worked in the fieldof education for forty-seven years, I retired in 1997. I graduated from Indiana State in 1951 and taught secondgrade in Griffith, Indiana. My husband, Larry and I raised four children,Peter, Paula, Patti, and Patrick. Wehave three granddaughters: Katie,Maggie, and Annie. I received my M.S. inguidance and counseling in 1974. At thetime of my retirement, I was a guidance counselor at Merrillville High School, Merrillville, Indiana.Since that time, I have been involved in many activities for which aworking mother has no time. Presently, Iam Vice President of Administration of Women's Association of the NorthwestIndiana Symphony Society; corresponding secretary of the Southlake Chapter,American Association of University Women; a member of the Scholarship committeefor the Eli Lilly Community Scholarship Foundation of the Lake County LegacyFoundation; completed five years of service on the Grants Committee of the LakeCounty Legacy Foundation; am a member of the Lake County Chi Omega Alumna; amthe Drug and Alcohol Revision Committee for the Highland School Board,Highland, Indiana. I am also a member ofthe Jean Akers South Lake County Chapter of the Red Hat Society.Update....Since Pat has been pursuinga career in show business in California he has me to events where I have hadthe opportunity to meet some of the favorite stars of movies of the1940's......shown on the opposite page.

About this edition

• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1418429597
• ISBN 13: 9781418429591
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 132